I think Bob Brenly needs to be fired for this losing skid too.

Hey I thought we voted for Mark to NOT get a haircut! What gives?

he will have a goatee man.. It's a logical progression.. unless that was just me.. I decided to grow a goatee for my students in class. I figured if they all did really well on a test I gave I would shave my goatee off... well they never did really well (A's and B's) but I found that only one student in my class of 25 got a C on their mid-term so I decided that was as close as it would ever get.. So I took it off the last day I was there.. omg the loud shrills of 4th graders.. they spotted it from 3/4 of the way down the hall too.. we're talking 30 feet.

 We all know Dusty has a laid back style, however this was no surprise when Hendry hired him. The players under him however have not responded in the way they did for him in San Francisco. I am placing the blame on Hendry for not understanding that if you hire a Dusty type manager you need to have a better understanding of the type of player that will thrive with this type leadership. The biggest mistake he seems to have made is to allow Dusty to have input on players, I am guessing in San Francisco they gave him his 25 man roster and said live with it. Remember, supposedly Dusty left San Francisco because of differences with the front office. My new motto is 'the Cubs only hope is no hope'. I think we are there.

lol I have a trash can like that!

You are very right. Before the next game, at least some coaches have to go.

that they're actually worse than their record.  They've been pretty lucky this season (at one point they were leading the league in guys getting on base due to errors).  That's why Dusty and management's whining and complaining about not getting any breaks shows how clueless they really are.

why it matters who we lose with.  Do you actually think Dusty is winning us games, therefore someone else could lose them for us?  HGow many other managers would make such ridiculous lineups and such poor in gae decisions? I do admit he has crap to work with.  Get rid of the whole coaching staff, start working on obp. I understand its harder to see the silver lining now but that doesn't make sense.

is a doll regardless of the length of his hair. Tell him that. You know how 10 yr. old boys like that sort of thing. LOL!

"This is what I mean when I say -- do you want four months of that?"

yes. i'd take 4 months of ANYONE right now. anyone but dusty. here are my reasons:

1. if the Cubs go on a little hot streak, Dusty will likely be extended. they've all but eliminated themselves from contention, so the hot streak would be meaningless. That means we'd have 2 more years of the moron, with its requisite underachieving, poor fundamentals, poor execution and poor concentration.
2. if Dusty is fired, the entire coaching staff would be replaced, probably, before next season. we arguably have the worst hitting and pitching coaches in the majors, and they will NEVER leave if dusty is the manager (remember how difficult it was to get rid of wendell?)
3. hope. firing dusty would give us hope that next year won't be more of the same crap. perhaps hendry is like jerry angelo, he kind of fills his team with players that suit the coach. since in the case of the cubs, the coach/mananger is an idiot, who thinks obp is overrated, maybe hendry filled his team with a terrible roster because thats what his manager thought it would take him to win. if baker is replaced by a manager with an iq in the triple digits, maybe he'll call on hendry to fill the team with players that actually HELP the team.
4. firing the manager is usually good for a half dozen extra wins. i could use a half dozen extra wins right about now.
5. everybody in the universe knows that he needs to go.

So we swept with the Fishes...it happens...our team is playing horrid baseball right now, in just about every aspect, although JJ got a bunt single today--hurrahh!!

The type of change that i think this team needs is the type that comes when the season is over, as much as I know that Murton should bat No. 2 until Lee comes back and Walker acan go back to that role, realistically it doesn't matter much when you are getting smoked 9-1 and 9-3.  But these are the decisions by which I judge a manager and this guy--he aint my kinda guy...

If the Cubs cannot turn out healthy dominant pitchers from their farm system and keep them helathy and in Cub uniform then the team cannot compete...

We have moved away from power, Ks, and no OBP on offense to speed, Ks and no OBP on offense, this way sucks even more than the other...

These things have to be fixed at the team's philosophy and I don't know if that ever happens with this group?

the Cubs can win like the Sox did last year with dominant pitching and HRs (it's a myth about small ball playing a giant role with Sox last year).  You shut the other team down and make the most of your hits, but we need a pitching staff that is dominant in order to have dominant pitching...and it probably won't get better with Jake Ryu, unless he can use Tae Kwon do on batters before pitching...

If Maddux is going to show his age now then it could get 100+ loss awful.  We got crushed by the fishes, they smoked us and they totally suck...

IO still lvoe baseball and I love the Cubs, but I do not like the Cubs' management and they are destroying my team and this despite a wealth of resources and the most loyal fans in baseball...

I won't pay for a ticket when they play this poorly and I may not go to another home game until the entire front office big 3 are gone...

But I still enjoy the game itself and will follow it and see if we can turn it around.  With some luck and some healthy players maybe we can make it back to .500 this year?  Baby steps goals from now on, so if JJ can bunt for a hit then let's see if Pierre and Cedeno can each take walks...

"Here's to you men in blue, stop sucking..."

I think it's better for the Cubs to lose as many games as possible. It is obvious that a drastic change in team composition and managing needs to be made and so long as they can be close to .500 they will think that minor changes are answer. Not only is this team not built to get to the playoffs, it is not built to succeed there either if a miracle happens and they get there. There are two absolutely evident problems in team composition that are hurting the Cubs inmensly:

1. Offensively: the lack of importance given to OBP.
2. Pitching: the one track mind of rewarding/looking for pitchers who have "great stuff" but are unable to throw strikes and have a higher chance of getting hurt. This current Cub system would never pay attention to a guy like Maddux if he was coming up now.

So long as this team doesn't get on base, and the pitchers can't throw strikes, you simply cannot expect to have any kind of sustained success. I hate Dusty, but let's be real, either the phylosophy changes or you can expect more of the same.

I remember reading in an article not long ago how the simple statistic of the difference between base on balls taken vs base on balls given was a damn good predictor of winning. I have never seen a guy like Nolasco pitch, but just reading about him makes it evident the problems in this organization: a guy who can throw strikes and be effective but which doesn't have flashy stuff with high strikeout ratios. So once again we have guys like Hill and Guzman who give a baseball on balls per inning or so while we could use more guys like Nolasco. Probably same reason Dontrelle Willis was traded: no 97 mph fastball.

This team sucks, plain and simple. And even if it may not be as bad as they are playing now they simply can't compete with the elite, and that's the bottom line.

Luis

but they just played a clip of it on ESPN - anyone see Mad Dog beat the crap out of a water cooler with a bat today??

Woah.

I am completely numb right now. All I am asking for is a reason to believe things will get better. Right now I really don't have much. I may have to change my signature line soon if this keeps going.

What's his contract status in Oaktown?
THAT's who we need here.

Give the Cubs $100M, Billy Beane, and five years, and you've got a serious contender.

Remember the Marlins in 03 and Astros in 04. The question should be what would possibly be gained by keeping Dusty? It's already been shown that he has absolutely no motivational skills that have helped the team since he came here. If this team loved him so much why aren't they palying harder to allow him to keep his job? Despite his assertions he's given up and is packing his bags for the Coast.

Now why would we want Baker to continue to act as mentor for our youngsters? Does anyone actually see Cedeno or Murton becoming better next year because they spent the rest of a tragic year under Dusty's spell?

What is to be gained by waiting 1 more month or, even worse, until the All Star break? In management, when someone is going to be fired, the person is cut loose immediately.

We've already had the funeral. Now let's make sure we put the corpse to rest.

The tribune has an article where dusty sings the praises of Tony Womack.  Looks like they're gonna bring him up soon.  Yeah, that's the answer.  Another guy with no power who can't get on base.  What a joke.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-060524cubsbits,1,5199488.story?coll= cs-home-headlines

Beane's teams have made the playoffs, or at least contended for them every year. Which is more than we can say for the Cubs. But he's not coming to Chicago. Neither is Epstein, and I think he may be a little over-hyped. But Sweet Lou won a series in Cincinnati and took some Seattle squads to the playoff, Davey Johnson's been mentioned, I wouldn't mind seeing either one in town (Johnson maybe moreso that Piniella).

I'm also in the camp that thinks Dusty needs to go. It's true that he doesn't have much to work with right now, but this team has gotten worse each year he's been at the helm. Sure, he took the '03 squad to the playoffs, but they had a lot of luck and the other usual suspects in the division had down years. The Cubs were one game better in '04, but they also slipped further from contention and theoretically had a more talented squad. Then there was the huge embarrassing failure that was last year. I don't see what we have to lose by dumping Baker now. What's going to happen, we'll get swept by the worst team in the league? Too late for that.

The simple fact of the matter is that Baker was brought in to make this team a perennial contender, and it hasn't happened. And this season would be markedly different if not for injuries, but they were still a longshot for the playoffs, at best.

What we do need to realize is that guys are what they are. Baker won't change his approach. Guys like Pierre, Neifi!, et al, won't learn to take pitches because they've played their entire career this way. If they're not careful, the young guys will turn out the same way because that's what they're being taught. The only guy whose shown a propensity for change is Hendry, who abandoned power guys after three seasons for more (theoretically) station-to-station guys. Since it looks like we're stuck with him awhile, hopefully he'll change again and realize that this team needs a blend of power, OBP, and guys that can hit all the way around.

The thing about a GM who changes game plans is that this will turn out like Colorado where he has to rebuild every year or two because the previous approach doesn't work. He's all ready seen what works, I wish he would be smart enough to fix it.

...well at least the postgame interviews would be more lively.

Is Herman Franks still available?

about Piniella, he's not the guy.  We need a change in philosphy towards a team that values a statistical approach to the game, a la Boston or Oakland.  Piniella isn't that type of manager.  I believe I read that IF he comes back he wants to be in a position to win immediately too after what he went through in Tampa Bay.  We don't seem to fit.

Davey Johnson went through some major health issues as well as the untimely loss of his daughter.  iirc he had an undiagnosed problem with his appendix that lingered for quite some time that has helped keep him away from the game.  Sounds like he might want to get back into the game but who knows?  What would his motivation be at this point?

That said now isn't the best time to change managers anyway, as far as getting someone of quality to come in and take over.  Managerial "searches" tend to take place in the offseason.  In season you have to take what's available, which isn't much at this point.  Dumping Dusty might be exactly what we need but what we don't need is to get stuck with someone who isn't qualified.  What if we change now, go on a hot streak and give the new manager a contract only to find out he's really just another idiot?  Same senario as if we wait to extend Dusty the next time we get hot.

What we need is a different philosophy.  We need people who value getting on base and taking a walk.  I don't understand why Dusty complains about our pitchers walking too many hitters but not about our hitters NOT talking walks.  BB's aren't the end all holy grail of baseball but it's been proven statistically that they are very important.  We need people who understand that and are open minded to new ideas and aren't threatened by information.  People who are willing to learn and can accept that they don't know everything there is to know about baseball.  I don't think Dusty is that guy, but getting rid of him now isn't going to happen so let's hope the organization realizes what's going on and uses that information when they (McPhail, Hendry) decide what they want to do next.

Al, you say that firing Baker mid-season is a futile effort.  I'm not clear, though, do you want him gone at the end of the season?  Or do you want to extend his contract?  If you want him gone at the end of the season, then you might as well let him go.  It's not fair to Dusty to make him a lame duck.  

In addition, I think the Cubs must be sellers at this point.  Sell everyone over 29 that has value, release those over 29 that don't have value, and go with youngsters.  In other words, the Marlin route.  There's too many holes to think they can contend after one offseason of free agency.  

Let's say you keep Dusty.  Is Dusty the right guy to manage youngsters, even if its just for the next 4 months?  Think back to what happened last fall.  Dusty kept Neifi in the lineup over Cedeno to maintain "the integrity of the game" and only put Cedeno in the lineup against teams not in contention.  

You have to admit, what he's doing to Theriot is criminal.  The guy has FOUR AT-BATS over the last 3 weeks.  How the hell is he ever going to develop at that rate?  No, he's not an uber-prospect or anything, but dollars-for-donuts he could out-hit Neifi or Hairston right now.

Bottom line is, I'd rather have the MARLINS future at this point than the Cubs.  They've got a dozen great prospects and hope for the future.  We've got DLee, Zambrano, a few decent role players, and a bunch of crap.

.... the worst team in the central and after the sweep today they have proven that they are the worst team in the NL. Thank God for the Royals.

There is no doubt that there is a losing culture that surrounds this team.  Some one up above said something about changing their philosphy.  Well that would be a first after 60 years.  It seems that the Cubs have always built their teams with slow home run hitters.  They continously have one of the worst on base per centages in baseball.  I defy anyone to name any decent everyday player the Cubs have developed in their minor league organization.  They don't even do a good job of developing pitchers.  Outside of Wood and Pryor have they developed in their farm system.  The only two good pitchers that I can think of are Maddux and Willis and we know what happened there.  Granted the Willis trade was good for them in 2003.  

Now they are saddled with 2 pitchers who have very iffy careers left.  They have never told the truth about Pryor.  And at this point I don't know if they good give Wood away for a bag of baseballs.  

How many chances are they going to give him to pitch injury free. He is going to be 29 years old.  I would imagine that pitchers that have had as many injuries as he has had at this point do not have stellar careers.  

I am not sure why they gave Hendry another two years. There is no way he is going to turn this mess around in two years.

For those wanting trades, who do you trade and who do you trade for.  I am sure they don't want to go into a five year rebulding program, but they are going to have to find some way to develop some players and let the kids come up and play ball.

This is kind of what the Brewers have done with a couple of veterans in there.  There starting nine are pretty young accept for Lee and Jenkins.  The pitching staff is young.  Capuano seems like he will be a good pithcer.  They have a fairly decent bullpen.  Turnbow has done a good job.  Unfortunately they don't have the money resources to make up for losing a Ben Sheets.

Anyway at this point in the season, there isn't much the Cubs can do to turn this around.  The only good pitcher is Zambrano.  Maddux is just going to be inconsistant.  Marshall has had a cople of rough outings, but may turn out to be a good pitcher.

Guess the only thing to say is have fun at the ball yard

The Cubs don't have to get all deep and introspective to change their philosophy, just pick up something written by Bill james and try implementing a couple of his ideas for a change...A case in point is the 2003 red Sox and their attempt to implement what James had long shown to be true, the modern day use of the bullpen, whereby the closer comes in for one batter or mostly in the 9th inning costs teams wins.  The Red Sox, ordered by Epstein, attempted to implement what James showed, a team has a better chance of winning if they use the best available relief pitcher (out of those rested enough to pitch on a given day) when the score is tied or they are up by one, basically from 7th inning on...Grady Little either didn't understand it or was just stubborn to implement it, but the red Sox also had a lot of injury problems in their pen that year.

In some research done this year on why teams win in the playoffs it seems that teams that are better at stopping other teams from scoring have an advantage and that teams that use their closers in a manner similar to that advocated by James have an advantage...

The Cubs need to start looking into stuff like this and changing how they approach the game.  If they don't they're just going to keep wondering why our pitchers issue all those walks and those walks keep killing us and simultaneously look at everything from voodoo dolls to Holy water to generate more offense everything except increasing the number of times you get on base per plate appearance...

There are many smarter people running other teams now, the Cubs need to start competing with them...When I looked at team stats tonight and saw how Milwaukee, Cincy, and St. Louis are better in so many areas right now, with the eception of Cincy I'd say the Cubs' brain power is at a disadvantage...

I just wish someone in the Cubs Org. Would actually act like they care. No more excuses, no more words. Just ACT, like you care.

hear 'sports-talk' speculation that Dusty's re-signed ALREADY but this isn't the time to announce it...remember, it's rumor-mongering ratings grubbing sports radio.

Last post for a while, out of town on a family affair. See ya later!